Publicly traded energy pipeline partnership, Williams Partners L.P. (WPZ) announced that its expanded Geismar plant will begin ethylene sale in Jan 2015. In 2011, the partnership had announced that it would expand the capacity of the plant.
The Geismar facility is situated to the south of Baton Rouge, LA and produces natural gas liquid (NGL) along with propylene, butadiene and debutanized aromatic concentrate (DAC). Capacity at the Geismar plant after expansion is now 1.95 billion pounds of ethylene per year. Williams Partners' share of the total capacity of the expanded plant is approximately 1.7 billion pounds per year.
Management expects this increased production capacity to be highly effective in the light of the shale gas revolution in the United States and continued strength in crude oil prices that have given an upward momentum to the ethylene manufacturing industry. The partnership expects to serve a larger customer base and strengthen its position in the industry.
Williams Partners is an energy master limited partnership engaged in gathering, transportation, treating and processing of natural gas as well as fractionation and storage of NGLs. The partnership owns interests in three major interstate natural gas pipelines that together deliver 14% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.
The partnership’s gathering and processing assets include large-scale operations in the U.S. Rocky Mountains as well as onshore and offshore Gulf of Mexico. The general partner of the partnership is owned and managed by Williams Companies Inc. (WMB).
We remain optimistic about Williams Partners’ midstream and pipeline sectors and expect growing cash flows from these assets. The partnership is poised to benefit from the rebound in industrial activity that will see greater natural gas demand in the form of NGL.
Williams Partners currently carries a short-term Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors may consider better-ranked stocks like Seadrill Partners LLC (SDLP) and Sandridge Mississippian Trust II (SDR) both of which sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment